1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a clamp for hoses or flexible tubing. More particularly, this invention relates to hose clamps commonly used in the medical industry.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently, there exist many types of clamps for clamping onto a hose or other flexible member to at least partially oculate the hose or to tightly close-off the hose. One particular industry that requires the use of hose clamps is the medical industry wherein hose clamps are used widely as tubing clamps in intravenous administration sets, catheterization kits, and many other medical assemblies.
One of the most common type of tubing clamp in the medical industry comprises a clam-shall design having upper and lower body members joined together by a living hinge. The medical tubing is positioned between the upper and lower body members which are allowed to clamp onto the tubing by means of the living hinge. Typically, the upper body member includes a pointed end that engages into teeth formed in the end of the lower body member to achieve a complementary ratchet mechanism such that the upper and lower body portions may be clamped onto the medical tubing to oculate fluid flow or to entirely close off all fluid flow. Further, the most widely used tubing clamp comprises a longitudinal hole formed through the living spring and the ratcheting portions of the lower body members such that the tubing is threaded therethrough in alignment with mating clamping elements.
Importantly, the inherent memory of the medical tubing is intended to be sufficient to fully separate the body members and open the valve once the ratchet mechanism is released so that fluid may fully flow through the tubing. Unfortunately, however, after the clamp has been clamped on the tubing for any significant period of time, it retains a “deflection set” which resists the force exerted by the tubing to return to its fully-opened position without oculation of the medical tubing. Furthermore, the deflection set visually obscures whether the clamp has been fully closed to close the tubing or whether the clamp is only partially closed allowing some fluid to flow through the tubing.
The entirety of the tubing clamp is typically manufactured as a one-piece injection-molded assembly. Therefore, the material constituting the body members and the hinge is the same. Selection of such material therefore requires conflicting characteristics; namely, for the ratchet mechanism a hard material is desired to assure proper latching whereas for the living spring, a more resilient material is desired to assure less of a deflection set characteristic.
Representative patents disclosing tubing clamps include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,453,295; 4,588,160; 4,589,626; 4,643,389; Des. 427,307; Des. 431,650; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,558, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the tubing clamp art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tubing clamp comprising a leaf member that is forced into engagement with the tubing by a snap-lever when the snap-lever is closed to fully close-off all fluid flow within the tubing.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tubing clamp comprising a pivotable snap-lever component that actuates against a housed leaf component to fully close off fluid flow within the tubing, wherein the components of the tubing clamp may be injection-molded fully assembled together even though they are rotatably articulatable with respect to each other.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.